Witchcraft and academia: PhD candidate’s defense draws global attention

When Friday arrived, the Zoom link was filled to capacity before the event started, leaving hundreds of would-be attendees scrambling to join.

In an interview with the Monitor, Mr Samuel Nyasha Chikowero revealed that the drama began on September 19, hours after the release of his PhD defence invitation poster, as heated debates broke out across social media platforms. People demanded answers from him regarding his research.

“The defence started at 9:33am East African time, although it had been scheduled for 9am. Since I was outside Uganda during my defence, the Dean of the School of Liberal and Performing Arts allowed me to present via Zoom. But, a few minutes into the presentation, I found myself kicked out of the meeting,” Mr Chikowero told Daily Monitor.

He added: “Efforts to rejoin were fruitless as I was informed that Zoom had reached its maximum capacity. A friend present at the venue told me the host decided to restart the meeting—and urged me to join quickly before it maxed out again.”

Mr Chikowero lamented that the technology had failed not only him as the presenter but also the supposedly 1,000+ participants from around the world, who were eagerly waiting to hear his defence.

His research topic, Uroyi: Contesting Witchcraft Regulation in Zimbabwe, 1890-2023, attracted attendees from all walks of life, including scholars, students, academics, and the general public.

Some traditional healers purportedly attended the defence, including Sofia Namutebi, alias Maama Fina. However, this publication could not verify if it was her or someone else using a pseudonym to stir things up.

In the comment section, excitement bubbled as people asked various questions related to the topic.

Many questioned whether Mr Chikowero was a practicing witch, healer, or perhaps a Pan-Africanist scholar defending African customs. Some accused him of selling off three shrines before becoming a lecturer, which he denied.

One traditional healer, Jajja Bukomansimbi from Masaka, commented, “Can someone translate the presentation into Luganda because this topic is about us traditional healers?”

The university speaks out

Makerere University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Prof Buyinza Mukadasi, told this publication that, unlike previous PhD defences where the university struggled to attract even 10 attendees, this one saw unprecedented demand, with people practically begging the university to make alternative arrangements.

Prof Mukadasi, who also doubles as the University Academic Registrar, indicated that they had to create a YouTube stream on the spot to accommodate those who couldn’t access the Zoom session.

“Our Zoom platform can host 500 participants, and we maxed out almost instantly,” Prof Mukadasi said. “This has been the most highly attended defence in the university’s history.”

He revealed that the university allowed Mr Chikowero to defend his thesis online because he lives in Zimbabwe, and they didn’t want him to incur the high cost of travelling to Uganda.

“His topic is a scholarly research output, and we’re satisfied with the results. Of course, this did not reduce the curiosity people had about the subject, which was about witchcraft. His topic also touched on the revival of African traditions and values eroded by colonialism, which replaced them with modern religion,” Prof Mukadasi explained.

Dr Edgar Curtis Taylor, one of Mr Chikowero’s supervisors, noted that many researchers have studied the role of history and its importance in society. He attributed the large audience to the word “witchcraft”, which he acknowledged had a sensational appeal.

“Anything can be studied academically, and historians can explore every topic. His topic was excellent, and we need to demystify concepts we believe are not academic,” Dr Taylor said in a phone interview.

Mr Chikowero explained that his study critically analysed the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1899, which remained unchanged throughout the colonial era up to 2006.

He indicated that the Act essentially banned the belief in uroyi (the manipulation of esoteric knowledge of spirituality, herbs, or other forces to cause harm) and African methods of suppressing it.

“All of these were lumped under the term ‘witchcraft,’ which is problematic because it conflates evil practices with various African cultural traditions and religions that aren’t necessarily harmful,” Mr Chikowero said.

He explained that in the process of regulating this belief, both missionaries and the colonial state targeted African traditional healers, labelling them charlatans and extortionists, and physically assaulting them.

In his analysis, Mr Chikowero used culturally contextual terms to better understand the phenomenon.

“I problematised the very term ‘witchcraft,’ replacing it with uroyi. I argue that uroyi is a complex and fluid concept,” he said.

He added: “An important archive to explore is how Madzimbabwe societies understood the supernatural, managed harm, and constructed ideas of justice and punishment over time. My conclusions draw on extensive literature and primary evidence from archives, oral interviews with chiefs, liberation war veterans, and traditional healers (n’angas).

He indicated that his study is significant in many ways, on grounds that it has the potential to inform policy, especially on matters related to the subject of intellectual property.

Mr Chikowero said with the outbreak of Covid-19, the continent witnessed a sharp rise in the uptake of African heritage- based medicine to cure various ailments.

“However, the 19th-century missionaries made concerted efforts to destroy this medical knowledge, condemning them as backward and evil, while on the other hand, promoting Western medicine as powerful and advanced. To accomplish this, they targeted the traditional healers, who are the key player in this matrix,” he said.

Mr Nyasha Samuel Chikowero is a historian and scholar of African restorative justice. He holds an MA in African History (2019) from the University of Zimbabwe. He won the Runner-up 2024 Southern African Historical Society Graduate Student Prize at the University of Johannesburg.

Mr Chikowero is also a recipient of several fellowships and travel grants that enabled him to travel and share his research across Africa, Latin America and Europe. He is currently teaching at the University of Zimbabwe as a junior lecturer in the Department of History, Heritage and Knowledge Systems.